Conventionally a continuous body (abbreviated to "bag roll" hereinafter) formed by a series of wrapping bags made of synthetic resin film of the type shown in FIG. 4 is used for wrapping merchandise in supermarkets and so on.
A bag roll of the type described above is so constituted that an elongated cylindrical synthetic resin film 91 is flattened to form a band shape. In order to form bags A, bottoms 92 are provided by applying straight-line welding at a certain interval. Furthermore, in order to allow each bag A to be easily cut off, score lines 93 in the form of, for example, perforations are provided adjacent to the bottoms 92. The thus-formed series of bags A is wound up in the form of a roll, whereby a bag roll 9 is obtained.
Conventionally, the bag roll 9 is rotatably supported by a lateral shaft disposed between the top ends of two arms which project at the sides of a bag cutting device, the bag roll 9 being exposed. Therefore, when it is intended to cut off the bag A, the bag roll 9 is drawn out and brought into contact with the above-described cutting device. The bag A is then pulled in the tangential direction relative to the outer diameter of the roll in such a manner as to tear off the bag roll 9. This action may cause the cutting device to fall due to the inherent tension. Consequently the cutting device must be fixed to a heavy frame or fastened to a wall when installed for use.
However, since such bag rolls are used in an exposed state in the above-described conventional device or method, the conditions are too unsanitary for the bags to be used to accommodate items of food. Furthermore, since bag roll is drawn out in the direction of its rotation, it is difficult to catch the end portion of the bag roll 9 and to open the bag A is also difficult because of the tendency of the two sides of the bag A to stick to each other due to the static electricity generated. Furthermore, a problem arises in that the cutting device cannot be located freely due to the limitations noted above.